On Friday night, a war memorial/monument, in memory of Tamils killed in Mullivaikkal in Sri Lanka during the late stages of the civil war in 2009, was demolished at the University of Jaffna, according to various reports.
Once the news spread, students gathered at the spot and began a protest. There was massive outrage on social media too.
It is not officially known if the monument was destroyed by the University authorities or if outsiders' were involved. The Tamil Guardian, which broke the news, lay the blame entirely on the authorities.
The monument was erected in 2019 in the University in memory of thousands of Tamils killed in one of the bloody episodes of the final leg of the island nation's three-decade-old conflict in 2009.
Many politicians from different countries, Sri Lankan Tamils and others expressed their shock and condemned the attack.
Reacting to the news, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami said the demolition has pushed Tamils across the world into 'grief' and blamed the Sri Lankan government for bringing it down.
"It comes as a big shock that the memorial pillar, set up in memory of university students and people killed mercilessly in Mullivaikkal in the final stages of the war in Sri Lanka has been demolished overnight," the chief minister said in a tweet.
It was also condemned by the Deputy CM and Leader of Opposition MK Stalin.
This attack in Sri Lanka comes after a visit by India's External Affairs Minister Jaishanker to the island nation.
Jaishankar also met the Sri Lankan fisheries minister and followed up on the discussions held during the Joint Working Committee meeting on Fisheries on December 30.
"A productive meeting with Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda. Reviewed our cooperation in fisheries after the recent Joint Working Group session," he tweeted.
Jaishankar also met leaders of the Tamil community. On Wednesday, in a joint press conference with his Lankan counterpart Dinesh Gunawardena, he had urged Colombo to meet the aspirations of the Tamil community.
Here are some of the reactions, calling out the move by Sri Lankan authorities to stop Tamils from grieving the dead, from Twitter:
(With ENS, PTI inputs)